TOWARDS QUANTUM THEORY

BOHR, NIELS.

Zur Frage der Polarisation der Strahlung in der Quantentheorie.

Braunschweig und Berlin, Vieweg & Sohn, Julius Springer, 1921. Contemp. hcloth. Stamp on titlepage. In "Zeitschrift für Physik. Hrasg. von Karl Scheel", vol. 6., IV,416 pp. Bohr's paper: pp. 1-9. A faint dampstain in right margin.

First edition. "...in the hands of Bohr and his school the correspondence principle was like "a magic wand that allowed the results of the classical wave theory to be of use for the quantum theory...but a costly price had to be paid. For taking resort to classical physics in order to establish quantum-theoretic predictions, or in other words, constructing a theory whose corroboration depends on premises which conflict with the substance of the theory, is of course a serious inconsistency from the logical point of view. Being fully aware of this difficulty, Bohr attempted repeatedly to show "the correspondence principle must be regarded purely as a law of quantum theory, which can in no way diminish the contrast between the postulates and electrodynamic theory." The earliest allusion to such a conception may perhaps be found as early as 1921 in a paper (the paper offered) in which Bohr briefly discussed the function of the principle..."(Max Jammer).

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